News update Smog over city, NAIA cancels 36 flights, diverts 46 others

Flight cancellations and delays marred airport operations at the Ninoy Aquino Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Saturday morning after thick and low haze blanketed parts of the metropolis including the airport runways, forcing aviation authorities to either defer or divert flights to other airports for several hours.

In its 6 p.m. flight advisory, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said a total of 36 flights had been cancelled due to the weather phenomenon.

Twelve of them were flights of the Cebu Pacific Airlines and two flights of the Airphil Express Airlines (formerly Air Philippines).

The thick haze was described by a NAIA-based weather forecaster as smog, or combination of smoke and fog, that covered the metropolis from daybreak to noontime.

Earlier in the day, 46 flights coming in to Manila from other provinces and other countries were diverted either to Pampanga, Cebu, or Iloilo since the haze had made it impossible for pilots to see the NAIA runway.

Of the affected incoming flights, 49 were diverted to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at Clark Field in Pampanga.

Nine of the 12 diverted international flights and 20 of the 37 diverted domestic flights had already landed in Manila as of 6 p.m.

Meanwhile, two Philippine Airlines flights re-routed and landed in Cebu and Iloilo, south of Manila.

This page requires a higher version browser Lito Casaul, technical assistant of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), earlier said haze that covered the airport on Saturday was relatively nearer the ground than on other days.

The diverted planes had to wait for confirmation that the haze had already dissipated before they were allowed to fly in again for a NAIA landing.

According to radio reports, a MIAA spokesperson said that by Saturday afternoon, no additional flights have been diverted or cancelled since the haze had lifted and visibility in the NAIA runways had improved to five kilometers.

WHY THE CITY WAS IN BLURRY STILLNESS An airport-based weather forecaster reported on Saturday that smog, the combination of smoke and fog, caused several flights bound for Manila to be either cancelled or diverted to other airports.

Smog — originally used in 1905 to describe the unhealthful air of foggy industrial London — is a type of air pollution usually experienced in highly-urbanized cities, primarily due to industrial fumes and vehicular emissions.

This combination of smoke and fog forms when sunlight hits various pollutants in the air, causing airborne particles to remain suspended, which results in poor visibility for aircraft. It may also lead to some health hazards, such as emphysema, asthma and bronchitis.

Some weather forecasters from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), however, said the decreased visibility over the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Saturday was only due to haze, or the accumulation of dust and smoke particles in the air. More... The MIAA said 15 flights, six of them international, have successfully landed at the NAIA, as of posting time. Some of the diverted international flights came from Guam and Saudi Arabia.

PAL officials said two of their diverted flights in Cebu and at the DMIA are both on their way back to Manila.

RNAV-GPS-capable planes able to land

Despite the thick haze, some PAL and Cebu Pacific Airlines flights were still able to land in Manila because their Airbus planes are equipped with Required Area Navigation-Global Positioning System (RNAV-GPS) system.

Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing of the Cebu Pacific Airlines, said their affected flights were only small planes (ATR72).

A “24 Oras" report aired over GMA7 News on Saturday afternoon quoted airport officials as saying the newly installed Doppler Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Radio Range (DVOR) could not be used yet because it has still has to be calibrated.

The television report also said that the Instrument Landing System (ILS) that the government had ordered for the NAIA will not be arriving in the Philippines until August. The ILS is expected to remain operating as navigational aid for pilots even when DVOR or RNAV systems have both failed.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) described the phenomenon as smog, which was due to a high pressure weather system that restricted surface air movement and caused cloudy skies over the National Capital Region.

"Mayroon po tayong (We have here a) ridge of high pressure area existing which affects the Metro Manila area," said Hannah Grace Cristi, weather forecaster at the PAGASA office at NAIA.

"In this case, (we have no) vertical movement of air (such that the) smog is staying on the surface level," she said in the same report on GMA News's "24 Oras," adding that the lack of air movement contributed to the poor visibility over the NAIA area.

An Agence France Presse report also quoted Cristi as saying, “This is not normal. Usually this happens only during Christmas time." —With Andreo C. Calonzo/JV